Chapter 792: The Eloping Wife

Chen JianShe gave Li Dazhuang a piece of advice, and understanding dawned on him.

Controls on everything were very strict right now. Without a letter of introduction, you couldn’t travel to other places. You couldn’t take a bus or stay at an inn. Your only option was to leave on foot.

If his wife really did elope, they’d be able to find some trace of her.

“Right now, it doesn’t matter whether your wife actually eloped or not. What’s important is that you don’t get extorted by her family.”

Chen JianShe added another piece of advice.

Otherwise, he was genuinely afraid Li Dazhuang would come back up the mountain with a rope to hang himself.

He came up the mountain often. ‘If I came up here one day and saw a body swinging in the woods… Just thinking about that image is enough to give me nightmares.’

“By the way, how do you know your wife ran off with another man?”

Li Dazhuang sighed. “She always called me useless, saying I couldn’t compare to other men. When she left, she sent me away on an errand first. Then she gathered up everything valuable in the house. By the time I got back, she was gone. Someone said they saw a man come and pick her up.”

If it weren’t for that, he wouldn’t have suspected she’d eloped.

Chen JianShe nodded. “Good. Go and report it to the authorities exactly like that.”

Li Dazhuang thought Chen JianShe’s advice made a lot of sense. He stood up right away and started walking toward the County Town.

As for the wild boar, Li Dazhuang had no intention of claiming any part of it.

They had saved his life. If he hadn’t run into Chen JianShe and the others, he would be well and truly dead. The wild boar had nothing to do with him.

After Li Dazhuang left, the others looked at Chen JianShe, somewhat surprised.

“Not bad, kid. I can’t believe you came up with a plan like that. You’re really something.”

Once the authorities were involved, her family wouldn’t dare come around making trouble anymore, regardless of whether she was found or not.

However, people back then weren’t accustomed to involving the authorities, so most relied on the strength of their own large families to resolve disputes.

That was when you could see the benefit of having many sons.

The men chatted as they tied up the wild boar.

It was a hot summer day, and one large boar was more than they could eat. Leng Yuan made the final call. “Let’s hide the boar for now. After dark, Zhong Shan can go home and get the flatbed cart, and he and JianShe can take the boar to the County Town to sell. We’ll split the money when they get back.”

The rest of them would head home first; they didn’t need that many people to transport the boar.

The men heard this and nodded. Once the boar was hidden, Leng Yuan headed back.

The others, however, didn’t go home. Instead, they stayed nearby to keep watch.

They had worked hard to take down this boar and couldn’t let some other animal drag it away. They had to stand guard.

When Leng Yuan got home, Gu Jiaojiao came out of her room holding a cup of chilled herbal tea.

“Have a drink to cool off. Sister Xiao Li just left.”

Leng Yuan took the cup, and his gaze instinctively fell on Gu Jiaojiao’s stomach. His eyes flickered for a moment, but he quickly looked away. The change in his expression was so fleeting it was imperceptible.

Gu Jiaojiao didn’t notice Leng Yuan looking at her stomach. She just felt that her husband seemed a little down since he got back today, with a heavy air about him.

“What’s wrong? Did the hunt not go well?”

Come to think of it, Leng Yuan never returned from the mountain empty-handed. He would always bring something back, even if it was just a pheasant or some wild eggs.

But Leng Yuan wasn’t one to go up the mountain frequently. He only went more often during the winter when there was little else to do. In the first half of this year, he had only gone a few times, mostly when Chen JianShe dragged him along.

Leng Yuan shook his head. “We got a wild boar today. I’m just a little tired.”

“Then you should hurry inside and get some rest!”

Gu Jiaojiao had never heard the word “tired” come from Leng Yuan’s lips. The man was like he was made of iron, seemingly immune to fatigue. Hearing it today was a rare occurrence.